With the Rise of the “Selfie”, People are Using Photo Imaging Apps in a Whole New Way

— 8/6/2013 — FREMONT, Calif. —

ArcSoft, the industry-leading software provider of imaging technologies and applications announced today that its popular digital photo makeover app, Perfect365, has reached 5 million downloads. The free app lets users easily apply a natural touchup or a trendy makeover on digital self-portrait photos with a single tap. Within seconds, users can create photo-studio quality images to post online or send to friends and colleagues.

With the rapid increase in information sharing brought on by social media, online communities and smartphones, photo imaging apps are booming. In the U.S., there are 600 million profile pictures, nearly twice the entire population. Perfect365 is experiencing this increase with a noted five million downloads so far and has been consistently ranked as one of the top 15 free photo apps on iTunes and Google Play.

Along with the increase in photo apps and usage, there also has been an increase in consumers posting digital self-portraits online, popularly called “the selfie” image. The rise in selfie postings have become a controversial topic, with celebrities and consumers jumping on board. Instagram has more than 100 million active users, with 109 million photos tagged, simply, "#me." Singer and actress Rihanna has posted 2,300 selfies on Instagram, along with numerous other celebrities.

Perfect365 allows people to play with their look by instantly changing their eye color, shape of their face, removing blemishes and under-eye circles, softening skin, and whitening teeth, to name a few features. Now that the one touch make-overs are so easy, the “selfie” has a new purpose: be able to experiment with trying on new identities and looks, without having to commit to it in real life.

Here are some of the ways people are using Perfect365:

Sharing photos with friends and family to let them know how they’re doing “in the moment” on Facebook or Twitter-Perfect365 allows app users to instantly share photos on Facebook or Twitter directly from the app.

Enhancing your personal brand on LinkedIn- Currently 85% of employers use LinkedIn to recruit new talent. Perfect365 provides users with a studio-quality headshot for LinkedIn posting in minutes.

Connecting with friends and fans on Instagram- User can enhance their visual appearance, just as fast as they can apply a filter, and instantly post their favorite photos.

“Perfect365 is one of those apps that’s fun to use and highly addictive, so it’s no surprise that it has taken off,” said Amy Rubin, ArcSoft's VP of marketing. “ArcSoft’s algorithm allows for accurate facial feature mapping, so the make-over is as realistic as possible and we are continually adding new features to the app to keep it fresh and exciting.”

Perfect365 includes ArcSoft's industry-leading face and facial feature detection engine and will automatically locate your eyes, nose, cheeks and mouth in the photo with amazing accuracy. For more information on Perfect365, please visit http://www.perfect365.com. To download the free app for the iPhone visit here, and for Google Play visit here.